Borough seeks appraisal of parking lot

Staff photos by Tom Kelly IV
Opening Day of the 2013 West Chester Growers Market, took place on Saturday, May 4, 2013 in the Chestnut Street parking lot at Chestnut and Church Streets in the borough. Vendors were selling artisan pastas, artisan cheeses, herbs, fruits, vegetables, breads, wines, etc.

WEST CHESTER — As the number of signatures petitioning council to keep the West Chester Grower’s Market at its current location continues to rise, borough officials are seeking an independent appraisal to help weigh the parking lot’s future.

“It does not mean we are going to sell; it does not mean we are going to lose the Grower’s Market,” said Holly Brown, council president.

Council came to the decision unanimously, placing it on Tuesday’s consent agenda, where it was attached with a 3-0 recommendation from the borough’s finance and technology committee.

Discussion on the possible sale of the property continued at Monday’s work session.

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“We will take all these data pieces, put them together and make a decision regarding what we are going to do with Lot 10 in the next couple weeks,” said Councilman John Manion.

The lot being discussed for possible sale, Lot 10, sits at the corner of West Chestnut and North Church streets and is the current location of the West Chester Grower’s Market. When the borough opened up a request for proposals on the property, residents became concerned at the thought of possibly losing the lot and market.

Manion said he is sure market representative would prefer to remain at their current location, but said “we have to look at the situation for the taxpayers in the borough and find out what’s the best alternative, if there is one, to lot 10.”

After sending out a request for proposal, the borough received five offers for the property, ranging from $450,000 to $982,000, and one offer of a property trade. The offers range from keeping the property a public parking lot to developing it for residential and office uses. The 28,000-square-foot parcel is in zoned Town Center, Block Class B.

Council members said the property was one of a few borough owned properties that came up in discussion two years ago as potential money makers to offset growing expenses and stay a tax increase.

Councilman Jordan Norley said they as council have to remain responsible to the taxpayers “first and foremost” and must take these opportunities into consideration.

“We would hope that if we did have to sell the growers market would be amicable to another good downtown area,” Norley said. “I would also hope that the people that would usually visit the grower’s market wouldn’t be as fickle as to not go there anymore because it’s a couple blocks away.”

A petition to keep the market at its current location started on the website Change.org and had garnered 298 signatures by Tuesday evening.

The petition addresses West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta and council members directly, asking them not to consider the sale of Lot 10.

Shea suggested officials find a way to analyze the impact the market has on the borough and businesses downtown which appear to benefit from the market’s current location.

“It helps the overall ambiance of the town and fiscal health of the town when you help the businesses,” Shea said.

Manion said they will consider the impact and are aware the economic impact customers have on the downtown businesses, but that doesn’t contribute to lowering taxes.

Pat Comerford, downtown business owner and one of the proposing developers, said he talked to other businesses and they are interested in keeping it a parking lot.

“My gut common sense feeling is that no business in town wants to see that parking lot go away,” he said. “We want the perception that you can come into town and find street level, convenient, short-term parking.

Borough officials expect an appraisal on the lot to be finished by next month in time to discuss it and the proposals further at the June Finance and Technology Committee Meeting.

About the Author

Jeremy Gerrard is the Daily Local News' reporter covering the West Chester area and local school district. Jeremy is a Chester County native and a graduate of Auburn University. Reach the author at jgerrard@dailylocal.com
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